What Is Traditional Chinese Medicine?.
Shen Nong the Fire Emperor, said to have lived from 2698 to 2598 BC, is considered
the founder of herbal medicine in China. The written history of Traditional Chinese
Medicine is more than 2,500 years old, starting with the text on internal medicine
from Huang Di, the Yellow Emperor. Written long before the birth of Hippocrates,
the father of Western medicine, the Huang Di Nei Jing(Yellow Emperor’s Inner
Classic) covers such principles as yin and yang, the five phases, the effects of the
season, and treatments such as acupuncture and moxibustion (the burning of mug-
wort over inflamed and affected areas of the body).
TCM is associated with early Taoists and Buddhists who observed energy within
themselves, in plants and animals, and throughout the cosmos. Based on a belief in
the natural order of the universe and the direct correlation between the human body
and the cosmos, this philosophy stresses the constant search for harmony and bal-
ance in an environment of constant change. By the close of the Han era (220 AD),
the Chinese had a clear grasp of the nature of disease, preventive medicine, first aid,
and dietetics, and had devised breathing practices to promote longevity.
During the fourth and fifth centuries AD, China’s influence spread throughout Asia,
and both Taoism and Buddhism had a marked impact on ideas about health. Sun Si
Mian (581–682 AD), a famous physician, established himself as China’s first medical
ethicist. He advocated the need for rigorous scholarship, compassion toward
patients, and high moral standards in physicians. In the eleventh century, TCM
began to focus more on social phenomena, especially human relations and ethical
behavior. Initially this orientation resulted in increased scientific medical study and
publications.
As TCM developed further, however, people began to take for granted that a break-
through in one realm of knowledge would eventually solve all problems of human
existence. (As in the West, some assume that advances in technology will solve all
problems.) Eventually, sociological methods were applied to medical problems, and
clinical and empirical research reached a low point. Fortunately, the core of the sci-
entific system was never obliterated, and this century has seen a worldwide revival
of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
In China today, TCM is practiced in hospitals alongside Western medicine.
Physicians not only study principles of anatomy, histology, biochemistry, bacteriol-
ogy, and surgery but also acupuncture, acupressure, and herbal medicine. Patients
can choose TCM or Western approaches alone or in combination to treat their par-
ticular problem.
TCM’s development over thousands of years has yielded multiple philosophies, con-
vergent concepts, and varied practices and treatments. It’s impossible to separate the
individual concepts and specific treatment approaches from the philosophy of the36 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER’S GUIDE TOALTERNATIVE MEDICINE